Daniel Hartmann’s NFL Football Week 2 Picks

The Bills offense was awful last week. Ditto for the Jets. Tyrod Taylor has potential to break out in a hurry. Ryan Fitzpatrick is average in every sense of the word. Both teams have solid defenses, but the Jets have the edge in both departments. A motivated Rex Ryan against his old team is cause for concern for Jets fans, but the Jets pull out a win in a low scoring game.

FINAL- Jets 17- Bills 10

Bengals (1-0) vs. Steelers (1-0)

A matchup of two super bowl contenders. A matchup of two of the top three receivers in the game. Two high powered offenses. Two stingy defenses. I think this one gets decided by the running games. Deangelo Williams is better than Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard. And Ben Roethlisberger is better than Andy Dalton. Steelers win by at least a touchdown.

FINAL- Steelers 31- Bengals 20

Lions (1 -0) vs. Titans (0-1)

Matthew Stafford could have taken the year to mourn Calvin Johnson’s retirement. Instead he threw for 340 yards and led a touchdown winning drive in the fourth quarter. The Thunder and Thunder duo of the Titans didn’t get off to a great start, and the Titans only scored 10 points last week. Stafford has a typical Stafford outing and throws for 350 yards with 2 picks.

FINAL- Lions 24- Titans 21

Ravens (1-0) vs. Browns (0-1)

The Browns make me sad so I won’t talk about them. The Ravens have already figured out how to use Mike Wallace; run him 40 yards downfield and throw him bombs. Luckily Joe Flacco can do this.

FINAL- Ravens 20- Browns 7

Cowboys (0-1) vs. Redskins (0-1)

I believe in Dak Prescott and in Ezekiel Elliot. The two rookies have the skills to make this a good game, not to mention the Cowboy’s stellar line. The Redskins are coming off a big loss to the Steelers, and will be playing on short rest.

FINAL- Cowboys 20- Redskins 16

Saints (0-1) vs. Giants (1-0)

This game alone might be worth getting NFL pass for. WE could see a combined 80 points and I wouldn’t even bat an eye. Brees and Manning are both healthy, as are their weapons. Expect to see a five minute highlight reel in this one, and hope you don’t face any of these guys in your fantasy league.

FINAL- Giants 48- Saints 42

49ers (1-0) vs. Panthers (0-1)

The 49ers were much better than expected against the Rams. But there were some who said all along that San Francisco could be good this year. I just don’t see it happening again against the Panthers in Cam Newton’s revenge game. He’s angry about two straight defeats and repeated shots to the head. You don’t make Superman angry without consequences.

FINAL- Panthers 35- 49ers 14

Dolphins (0-1) vs. Patriots (1-0)

The Dolphins defense looks scary this year. Obviously the Seahawks aren’t on the Patriots level, even without Brady and Gronk, but still. If Tannehill can connect on some shots, this could be a better game than expected. Garroppolo could have Gronk back this week though, and he showed a lot in his first game as a starter. The Patriots are the best team in the league.

FINAL- Patriots 24- Dolphins 13

Chiefs (1-0) vs. Texans (1-0)

Both teams are coming off impressive wins in week one. The Texans started slow and then held off the Bears in the second half, while the Chiefs pulled off a historic come back against the Chargers. A rematch of last year’s playoffs, this could well come down to a healthy JJ Watt. If he’s not full speed, expect a high scoring game. If he is, the Texans win big.

FINAL- Chiefs 30- Texans 27.

Seahawks (1-0) vs. Rams (0-1)

Hey LA fans, feel our pain. I’ve been watching the Rams for 15 years now, and that game still hurt me to watch. Imagine if you’re not used to it. The Seahawks are the Seahawks. The Legion of Boom is back, and Russell Wilson makes magic. No upsets for the Rams this time.

FINAL- Seahawks 31- Rams 12

Buccaneers (1-0) vs. Cardinals (0-1)

Jameis Winston is not a star in the making. He’s a star right now. He has weapons in Doug Martin, Austin Sefarian-Jenkins and Mike Evans, and this is a playoff team. Unfortunately for them, so are the Cardinals. Yes, the Cardinals lost at home last week. But that was to a Patriots team loving the underdog role. Carson Palmer has more weapons than he knows what to do with and they want to get back to their winning ways. Cardinals in a shootout.

FINAL- Cardinals 42- Buccaneers 35

Jaguars (0-1) vs. Chargers (0-1)

The Jaguars are the bandwagon team of the year. Get on now, or there will be no space. They just gave the PACKERS and ARRON RODGERS everything they could handle. This is a good, young football team. The Chargers on the other hand, most likely just crashed their bandwagon with that horrible loss to the Chiefs last week. I don’t care how good Phillip Rivers is, or how good Melvin Gordon can be.

FINAL- Jaguars 35- Chargers 21

Falcons (0-1) vs. Raiders (1-0)

Remember when everyone said Matt Ryan was the future of the NFL? Hey everyone, meet Derek Carr. He is what people thought Ryan could be, and he’s only in his third year. The Raiders have weapons on both sides of the ball, the Falcons, only on one. The defenses make the difference in this game.

FINAL- Raiders 23- Falcons 16

Colts (0-1) vs. Broncos (1-0)

Here’s a “what if” for you. What If Andrew Luck had the Broncos defense? That team would go 15-1 at the least. As it is, we get to watch the Colts struggle even with a generational talent at QB, while Denver is going to win a lot of close games with a former 7th round pick starting for them. That being send, here is my upset pick of the week. Luck does Luck things, and Semien shows a few cracks.

FINAL- Colts 24- Broncos 20

Packers (1-0) vs. Vikings (1-0)

The Monday Night Football game could well be the best game of the week (Either this or Steelers-Bengals). The best quarterback in the game goes against the best defense in the game. And yes I think the Vikings have a better defense than the Broncos, Patriots, or Seahawks, or whoever else you want to argue. On the other side of the ball, the Packers D is good, not great, and Adrian Peterson is still Adrian Peterson for the Vikings. This one could go either way, but I’m going Packers on the road in this one. Ask me again later if I think the Vikings would have won with Bridgewater instead of Bradford or Hill.